Job Description

Head Pastry Chef — Job Description

hacco is seeking a talented, creative, and highly motivated Head Pastry Chef to lead our pastry program as part of our opening team in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

hacco is a new bakery café concept centered around koji — the fermentation culture at the heart of Japanese food traditions. Through pastry, bread, coffee, and culinary creations, we are exploring how koji can bring new depth, flavor, texture, and possibility to contemporary food.

This is an opportunity to build something from the beginning.

As Head Pastry Chef, you will play a central role in shaping hacco’s pastry identity — from product development and presentation to production standards, team culture, and daily execution. We are looking for someone with a strong creative point of view, exceptional attention to detail, and the ability to turn ideas into consistently beautiful and delicious products.

We care about experience, but we do not believe that leadership is defined by years or titles alone. We are equally interested in emerging talent with exceptional craftsmanship, creativity, ambition, and the ability to inspire and lead others.

hacco is a collaborative environment. You will work closely with our bakery, culinary, beverage, and front-of-house teams, and we encourage ideas that cross traditional boundaries between disciplines.

What You’ll Do

• Lead and help shape the creative direction and identity of hacco’s pastry program.
• Develop, test, refine, and execute pastry products that reflect Hacco’s standards for flavor, craftsmanship, precision, and presentation.
• Explore creative applications of koji, fermentation, and other ingredients and techniques in contemporary pastry.
• Establish and maintain recipes, production methods, quality standards, and systems that ensure consistency and efficiency.
• Remain actively involved in hands-on production, finishing, and execution alongside the pastry team.
• Lead, train, mentor, and support Pastry Sous Chefs, Pastry Cooks, and other team members.
• Plan and organize production, mise en place, workflow, and daily priorities.
• Maintain exceptionally high standards for cleanliness, organization, sanitation, and food safety.
• Collaborate closely with bakery, culinary, beverage, and front-of-house teams on products, service, and new ideas.
• Participate in cross-department product development and special projects when appropriate.
• Help establish a positive, open, and collaborative kitchen culture where ideas and feedback can be shared constructively.
• Take initiative in identifying challenges and opportunities and work proactively toward solutions.
• Adapt to evolving systems, priorities, and responsibilities during pre-opening and the early stages of operation.
• Engage professionally and warmly with guests when working in visible or guest-facing areas and help the team communicate the story behind our products.

What We’re Looking For

• Professional pastry experience and strong technical fundamentals.
• Demonstrated ability to create refined, high-quality pastry with exceptional attention to detail, flavor, texture, and visual presentation.
• A strong creative point of view and genuine curiosity about ingredients, techniques, and new approaches to pastry.
• The ability to translate creative ideas into products that can be executed consistently in a professional production environment.
• Leadership ability or clear leadership potential, including the ability to communicate standards, teach, motivate, and support a team.
• A hands-on approach to leadership — someone who is comfortable working alongside the team rather than only directing it.
• Initiative, adaptability, and comfort working in the evolving environment of a new opening.
• Strong organizational skills and disciplined standards for cleanliness, sanitation, and food safety.
• Strong communication skills and openness to working with people from different professional and cultural backgrounds.
• A collaborative mindset and willingness to explore ideas beyond the traditional boundaries of pastry.
• Curiosity about koji and fermentation. Prior professional experience with koji is not required .

Experience

Professional pastry experience is required, but we place greater value on demonstrated talent, creativity, craftsmanship, leadership potential, and a strong point of view than on years of experience alone.

We welcome candidates who may be earlier in their leadership career but have the ability, ambition, and creative vision to lead and help shape Hacco’s pastry program.

Why hacco

You’ll be joining hacco at the beginning.

This is not a role where you will simply inherit an established pastry program. You will have the opportunity to help define it — its products, standards, systems, and culture.

We want to create an environment where talented people have the freedom to think, experiment, contribute ideas, and challenge conventions, while sharing responsibility for an exceptionally high standard of execution.

For us, koji is not simply an ingredient. hacco is intended to be a place where its possibilities can be explored and shared across pastry, baking, culinary applications, beverages, and beyond.

We’re looking for someone who wants to help define what Hacco pastry can become.

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